November 20th, 1945 (TUESDAY)
GERMANY: Nürnberg: The International War Crimes Tribunal opens.
Twenty-four high-ranking Nazis go on trial for atrocities committed during World War II. The international tribunal consists of representatives from the United States, the Soviet Union, France, and Great Britain. It will be the first trial of its kind in history. Charges range from crimes against peace, to crimes of war, and crimes against humanity. Lord Justice Geoffrey Lawrence, the British member, will preside over the proceedings.
The original 24 defendants, are Robert Ley, Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Hermann Göring, Alfred Jodl, Wilhelm Frick, Rudolf Hess, Albert Speer, Karl Doenitz, Hans Frank, Hans Fritzsch, Walther Funk, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Wilhelm Keitel, Erich Raeder, Alfred Rosenberg, Fritz Sauckel, Hjalmar Schacht, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Julius Streicher, Constantin von Neurath, Franz von Papen, Baldur von Schirach and Martin Bormann, believed dead.
"We must never forget that the record on which we judge these defendants today is the record on which history will judge us tomorrow. To pass these defendants a poisoned chalice is to put it to our own lips as well. We must summon such detachment and intellectual integrity that this trial will commend itself to posterity as fulfilling humanity's aspirations to do justice." Justice Robert H. Jackson Opening speech at the first Nuremberg Trial.
(Tom Hickcox and John Nicholas)
The Allied Control Council in Berlin approves the transfer of 6.65 million Germans from Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and the German regions east of the Oder-Niesse Line, which have been transferred to Poland at the Potsdam Conference, pending a final peace settlement. Through the expulsion of the German minorities, these East European countries hope to avoid future German claims to their territories.